About Us

Dark Web Scan

Dennis James, now CEO of ScoresMatter, had his identity stolen in the same way it happens to hundreds of thousands of people each year.

"One day I got a batch of bills and saw that the payments due all had late fees and were delinquent. I always paid my bills on time. I would open them up and expect to see the payment due, but that wasn’t the case this time.

Three days later I got a call from my banker saying he had just gotten a call from a guy trying to wire money out of my account. He had my full name, address, knew the name of my wife and that I have 3 kids. He also had my bank details, car insurance details, etc. It wasn’t until he got to the security questions that he started fumbling around."

It turns out that this incident related to the incident with his bills. There was a mail fraud ring in his neighbourhood stealing everything out of his outgoing mail after he would place it for pick up. He had to shut down his bank account and get bill payments for all new credentials. He had to run two accounts for three months to make sure it all cleared out. Since then Dennis still gets all kinds of spam, phone calls and fraud calls that are totally bogus. This gives fuel to the theory that he is still on some type of list.

Mail rings are hardly the only way to collect information and data on someone and criminals are not the only ones doing it. Over 1 billion people have had their data stolen from some of the biggest corporations in the world.

This is when I knew I had to do something more than just deal with my personal headache. It was time for the consumer to have an equal playing field with those third parties who use your data for their own benefit and to KNOW when something is going wrong.

With a background in marketing, lending, and data science Dennis set his eyes on creating a service that could help prevent individuals from entering similar circumstances. Together with a few colleagues who also felt strongly about the issue – ScoresMatter was created.

One of these colleagues was Zack Bernato. Zack also felt strongly about the issue at hand, having been in a similar situation to Dennis involving the unsanctioned use of his identity.

I was shopping at a large retailer and decided to open up instant credit there. The store associate asked me to fill out an application with my social, address, email and driver’s license.

It turned out that an associate at the store had sold his information to a ring that opened up instant credit in other stores by using a fake id with my name on it. They were able to get fifteen thousand plus in instant credit between different stores.

By the time I knew I was compromised, I had already received credit cards for stores I didn’t frequent or apply for credit with. I reached out to the stores and they said I had personally come in and bought the merchandise and applied for credit. Which I obviously didn’t do. The card I ordered from the store was also maxed out the next day with stereo equipment purchases before I even received it.

Through this process, Zack learned that an identity theft criminal will typically sell your information to buyers on the Dark Web. These buyers will go out and get credit in the name provided in the information. They will then buy items to either sell or keep for themselves.

Soon after the two partnered with Will Hakes. Will’s background in analytics made him the perfect fit for the role of Chief Analytics Officer. Will had his own reasons to believe in the companies’ goal.

In 2016, by chance I received a phone call from a Major Dept Store in Atlanta  that “I had forgotten my glasses” and that I should come pick them up.  I left them there after buying about 7k worth of new stuff on my new credit card. The problem was, it wasn’t me.  It was someone pretending to be me – right there in the store.

Luckily, Will was alerted to the theft by chance, before the damage reached him personally and impacted his credit score. He then enrolled in a “protection service”.  This was partially helpful, as, across the next few weeks, it alerted him to several new accounts that were being opened in his name.

It was frustrating -I was alerted but there was nothing that I could do about it, other than calling the Company and disputing the charges etc. it still continued to happen.

Will realized that criminals had his name, address, social security info, previous address, phone number, email and more. Essentially everything one needs to steal an identity. He chose to “freeze” his credit – a partial remedy which does help eliminate new credit accounts being opened in someone’s name.  There were still risks. If people know your name, email etc – they can open other accounts.

That’s why its critical – even if you check your credit, or have it frozen – to try to “know what the criminals know”.

That’s when Will came to the conclusion that it is important for people everywhere to be able to check if their information is on the Dark Web.

Following these experiences, the three set out to create a tool that can help people be proactive about the security of their identity. After exclusively offering credit reports to consumers, the three conceived the idea to introduce the Dark Web scan. With over 1 billion people who have had their data stolen the tool’s goal is to help consumers see if their information is actively for sale and then to try to stop fraud from occurring.

Loan Affordability Assesment

ScoresMatter didn’t stop with the Dark Web Scan and Credit Report and Score and have since added another innovative tool to the ScoresMatter suite.

The origin of the loan affordability tool came about as we observed as both lenders and marketers to consumers, the group of people seeking credit online. -Dennis James

Historically, lenders have always relied on the credit score to evaluate whether they should give a loan to a consumer. Regulators both in the UK and in the US have put in place what is generally referred to as a loan affordability assessment requirement. This is where the lenders are supposed to look at the cash flows coming into a consumer as well as the discretionary and nondiscretionary i.e fixed expenses. This calculation will yield a net cash flow number to the consumer each month from which they could have the disposable income to repay a loan. More recently, with open banking in the united kingdom and more sophisticated data science practices, this function can now be delivered in an automated way.

Scores matter is the first company in the market providing a Loan Affordability assessment directly to the consumer that mimics the same evaluation criteria that the banks employ. Our scorecard takes into account performance data from thousands of transactions and calibrates the consumer’s ability to repay a loan based on the information that they provide in the application form. Additionally, it gives direct access to their bank details so that we can provide the most sophisticated score to the consumer while reflecting real-time data that is available. This, in turn, allows us to directly deliver to the consumer a close approximation of a score that the lender would look at when evaluating them for a loan. This benefits the consumer by letting them know what will happen in advance when applying for a loan. -Dennis James

Why scores matter…

The founders of ScoresMatter created these tools to help consumers everywhere better their lives. Each one serves a different purpose. Whether it is to ensure financial security, secure a loan, or know when your information is compromised, ScoresMatter is there.  Each tool is powered by people who have been through experiences that helped them envision a world where these scores aren’t just available to the consumer but that they matter to them as well.